FusTek Station Parts Dev Thread (continuation of fusty's original work)

[curtquarquesso]

4 hours ago, sumghai said:

Once I get this growing pile of issues under control, I would like to start thinking about redesigning the IACBM docking ports to actually use colliders and force docking alignments to perfect 90 degree intervals. @curtquarquesso, I believe you're the man I need to ask about this.

Heyo. Thanks to @NathanKell, there are now parameters you can define in the part configs for docking ports that define gender, acquire torque and roll, as well as rotational snaps that make sure docking ports align when docked. 

Collision-based alignment fins allows for really fun and immersive gameplay, but you have to weigh it against the performance cost, and any risk of accidental kraken-ing and general collision weirdness. I think a bumper and rotational snaps defined in the config are the best and safest way to go.

Ven's Stock Revamp, CxAerospace, Tantares, and BDB all currently feature soft-docking and bumpers, so you can look to any one of those mods for cfg info to draw from. 

The real tricky part is dealing with the nodes in the VAB. You have to make some decisions regarding whether your nodes will activate or deactivate depending on animation state, and whether you'll use the attachment node as your docking node reference, or whether you'll have a deployable docking node similar to the nodes on any of the stock shielded Clamp-O-Trons.

Keep me apprised.

[nli2work]

Part list icon doesn't show any translucent shaders, flagDecal or otherwise, I assume it's by Squads design. Best thing is set the decals or other transparent mesh objects to Icon_Hidden. I haven't tried Cutoff shader. that may work in part list icons? 
.

Edited May 12, 2016 by nli2work

[sumghai]

@curtquarquesso - I'm aware of those parameters; in fact, I was the one who made the feature requests in the first place.

The only collision weirdness I experienced was back in August 2013, where the colliders would work normally until the docking port magnetism kicks in, at which point the colliders are completely ignored. As a result, even if you line things up perfectly to start with, the sudden pull of the magnets knocks the rotational alignment ajar anyway.

Earlier this year, I experimented with acquireMinRollDot and captureMinRollDot, and while the results were fairly promising, my understanding is that they simply accept/reject orientations within/outside the specified tolerance, rather than actively correcting the orientation.

In hindsight, I wonder if reducing minDistanceToReEngage, acquireRange and captureRange to very small values would give more time for the colliders to properly align the ports before final hard docking.

By bumper, do you mean a inline collider like the Soyuz docking probe, or APAS/CBM-style fins?

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Ven's Stock Revamp, CxAerospace, Tantares, and BDB all currently feature soft-docking and bumpers, so you can look to any one of those mods for cfg info to draw from. 

Darn - I sure envy those guys for beating me to the punch

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The real tricky part is dealing with the nodes in the VAB. You have to make some decisions regarding whether your nodes will activate or deactivate depending on animation state, and whether you'll use the attachment node as your docking node reference, or whether you'll have a deployable docking node similar to the nodes on any of the stock shielded Clamp-O-Trons.

The attachment node will be the same as the docking node.

As for activation and gendering, my docking ports will simply rotate the fins between active and passive positions, hence the name Improved Androgynous Common Berthing Mechanism. It is hoped that these, along with suitable tweaks to the docking port parameters, will inherently prevent passive-passive or active-active docking attempts.

10 hours ago, nli2work said:

Part list icon doesn't show any translucent shaders, flagDecal or otherwise, I assume it's by Squads design.

Transparent part shaders in the partslist worked just fine in KSP 1.0.5. I wonder whether what you're describing is a deliberate change or simply an oversight.

Paging @Porkjet for clarification.

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Best thing is set the decals or other transparent mesh objects to Icon_Hidden.

That might be tolerable for FusTek parts, but the parts I recently made for @stupid_chris are quite small, and depend greatly on high-fidelity decals to distinguish them from each other.

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I haven't tried Cutoff shader. that may work in part list icons?

No joy - transparent areas are still treated as opaque.

[nli2work]

I logged a report on issue tracker at lowest priority back in pre-release, the entry has since been removed, so I guess it was intentional. As for decals, maybe geometry is an option? Could be a real pain if your decals are super intricate, but it does offer some extra flexibility like using texture/mesh switch from FS

[sumghai]

55 minutes ago, nli2work said:

I logged a report on issue tracker at lowest priority back in pre-release, the entry has since been removed, so I guess it was intentional.

The issue may be moved to an internal tracker, rather than deleted. Regardless, I sincerely hope this wasn't intentional.

55 minutes ago, nli2work said:

As for decals, maybe geometry is an option? Could be a real pain if your decals are super intricate, but it does offer some extra flexibility like using texture/mesh switch from FS

Most of my decals are oddly shaped, and made use of the transparency (cutoff or translucent) to handle said shapes.

At any rate, this doesn't appear to affect the VAB and the flight scene, but I'll still keep poking the devs regarding this issue. I suppose I just wanted reassurance that it wasn't anything obvious that I missed.

[sumghai]

Progress Report, 15 May 2016

I finished updating the shaders on all the revamped parts I've done so far, and I'm rather pleased with how the specular effects turned out:



I also made some good progress experimenting with limiting docking orientations on the IACBM. The guidance fins shown prevent two ports in both active or both passive configuration from docking, and also ensures that each active-passive pair is gently guided together with a very high degree of accuracy. I found that I had to leave a very tiny gap between the interlocking fins, to avoid the colliders from permanently jamming both ports stuck together.

For the record, here's how I configured ModuleDockingNode:

 

	MODULE
	{
		name = ModuleDockingNode
		referenceAttachNode = top
		nodeType = FusTek_IACBM
		acquireForce = 0.5
		acquireRange = 0.01 // reduced this so that the magnetic grip waits until the docking ports are very close together and near-perfectly aligned before final hard docking
		captureRange = 0.01 // ditto
		captureMinRollDot = 0.99999
		snapRotation = true
		snapOffset = 90
	}

	MODULE
	{
		name = ModuleAnimateGeneric
		animationName = FusTek_IACBM_ActivePassive_Toggle
		startEventGUIName = Switch to Passive Mode
		endEventGUIName = Switch to Active Mode
		actionGUIName = Toggle Active/Passive Mode
	}

My recent progress is available for download from my GitHub repo, so feel free to play around with it and let me know what you think.

[TK421d]

Oooooo.  happy to see this, always loved this part set.

i'll grab it and start building, see what i cant get to work and break and whatnot!

[jordanjay29]

I'm happy to see this is still alive. This is still my favorite station parts mod.

[MelancholyFlapper]

Wow, the specular effects do wonders for these  parts. They immediately look way better! Neato stuff.

[Kerenatus]

This is still alive!

[Spodershibe]

What is the status of this mod? Is it still alive?

[sumghai]

5 hours ago, Spodershibe said:

What is the status of this mod? Is it still alive?

See @Kerenatus's post above.

[MrMeeb]

Out of interest, what is the intention of the mod? Is it trying to recreate the ISS modules specifically, or is it a wider scope of more hypothetical US modules, based off the kind of hardware they use in their modules currently?  

[Spodershibe]

11 hours ago, sumghai said:

See @Kerenatus's post above.

How close is it to being updated to 1.1? I really love your mod by the way

[sumghai]

Progress Report, 6 June 2016

I finished revamping the docking ports today.

Key changes include:

- Reworked emissive animations for compatibility with KSP 1.1 / Unity 5. The new PartTools Color Animation Editor was very difficult to use, but I finally got something working.

- Reducing the number of lights from eight to four. I'm not sure if this will have any performance benefits, but having less light to deal with is always a good thing

- Improved level of detail, such as better power/data connection ports, docking bolts and seals.

As a point of comparison, the P/A/MCBMs from @cxg2827 's CxAerospace Station Parts pack more closely resemble the real-life ones on the ISS, but my pragmatic adaptation makes docking easier* and is also just one truly androgynous parts instead of three separate variants.

*with a bit of wriggling

 

Since I'm getting pestered by all these newcomers begging for an official download link or estimated release dates, I'll just leave this here:

https://github.com/sumghai/FusTek_StationParts/archive/master.zip

Note that this is, as always, a work in progress, so things will frequently break.

[Vrana]

Revamp looks really good. Pretty sure this going to turn out to be the best looking station parts, again.

[Delta_8930]

Are you planning to make a parachute integrated docking port?

[sumghai]

4 hours ago, Delta_8930 said:

Are you planning to make a parachute integrated docking port?

Not for the FusTek pack itself, but the existing parachute-equipped IACBM in the SDHI SMS pack will be updated sometime in the future.

[cxg2827]

18 hours ago, sumghai said:

As a point of comparison, the P/A/MCBMs from @cxg2827 's CxAerospace Station Parts pack more closely resemble the real-life ones on the ISS, but my pragmatic adaptation makes docking easier* and is also just one truly androgynous parts instead of three separate variants.

 

Wouldnt really say its 3 separate variants since I'm taking advantage of the docking port gendering feature, so the ACBM and PCBM are unique for their specific docking port genders.

The MCBM I wouldn't count since its the red-headed step-child that was made only for the Z1 truss, and I doubt will ever be used outside of that.

I'm adding the guide fin colliders to my pack's docking ports in the next update as well, so docking should be easier* for them as well .

[sumghai]

31 minutes ago, cxg2827 said:

Wouldnt really say its 3 separate variants since I'm taking advantage of the docking port gendering feature, so the ACBM and PCBM are unique for their specific docking port genders.

Haha, I see!

I'm using my animated colliders mostly for alignment, but partially to also allow switching between active and passive genders on-the-fly.

34 minutes ago, cxg2827 said:

I'm adding the guide fin colliders to my pack's docking ports in the next update as well, so docking should be easier* for them as well ;).

Let me know if I may be of any assistance

[sharpspoonful]

I'll be providing feedback when I get home later.

MAY TESTING CONTINUE, AND MORE KERBALS BE OFFED OFFERED ON THE ALTERS OF SCIENCE.

[TK421d]

no real feedback to give here, other than i havnt been able to break anything (yet™).

 

but the new textures are fantastic. not that the old ones were bad... its just so shiny and crisp!

[StevieC]

Question: Is the Kourier ATV Pressurized Resupply Module intended to be attached to the SDHI Service Module System?

Further Question: What would be good TAC Life Support values for Food, Water, and Oxygen it could carry?

Edited July 10, 2016 by StevieC
Forgot a second question I wanted to ask

[sumghai]

1 hour ago, StevieC said:

Question: Is the Kourier ATV Pressurized Resupply Module intended to be attached to the SDHI Service Module System?

Not anymore.

It will eventually have its own propulsion trunk.

1 hour ago, StevieC said:

Further Question: What would be good TAC Life Support values for Food, Water, and Oxygen it could carry?

This is a (now archived) MM patch that would have supported TAC-LS. The part names have changed, but the values shouldn't.

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sumghai/FusTek_StationParts/13b02b7f0fe82a93cfa2cd4ef565ff23a8542714/old development archive/GameData/FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/MM_configs/FusTek_MMPatch_TACLifeSupport.cfg

[chlbutterworth]

Is this mod going to be update for 1.2? Or is it on hold for a long duration?